Efficiency is so important for business. Being able to create, collaborate and communicate seamlessly makes any organisation more effective. Having access to productivity tools that enable people to do their jobs more easily – and from anywhere – makes organisations agile and lets them compete in their sector. Microsoft 365 is the productivity cloud designed to help you pursue your passion and run your business.

So, what is Microsoft 365?

Many Office users have difficulty working out what Microsoft 365 actually is. Frequently it is equated with the “classic” Office product. The users therefore assume that they simply receive Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, etc. “from the cloud”. But in fact, it is essentially a bundle of services that includes all the Office 365 services and desktop apps, with the addition of their latest productivity apps, such as Microsoft Teams, Sharepoint, OneDrive, and so much more.

The benefits of Microsoft 365 for small businesses

1. Be productive anywhere

Communicate and Collaborate on the go and stay connected whether you’re working remotely or onsite.

• Chat, call, and host meetings
• Share documents in the cloud
• Collaborate using Office apps
• Connect via email and calendar

4. Flexibility for your business

Get pay-as-you-go pricing options that give you predictability and flexibility for your business.

• Provide users with only the services they need
• Cost-effectively adding value to your business

5. Professional face for your business

Using professional services like Microsoft 365 tells potential customers that you’re serious about business.

• State-of-the-art but easy-to-use collaboration
• Mail, and messaging services
• Set yourself apart from competitors
• A custom domain name

Look around you. The world we live in today is not the world we were born into.

In these past few years, technology has changed the way we interact, the way we conduct business, the way we shop and the way we live and work. It has become an integral part of our routine and now forms an indispensable part of life. The importance of technology in business cannot be understated. 

5 Reasons why technology is important for business

Communication

First and foremost, technology affects a firm’s ability to communicate with customers. In today’s busy business environment, it is necessary for employees to interact with clients quickly and clearly. Websites allow customers to find answers to their questions after hours. Fast shipment options allow businesses to move products over a large geographic area. When customers use technology to interact with a business, the business benefits because better communication creates a stronger public image.

2. Efficiency of operations

Technology also helps a business understand its cash flow needs and preserve precious resources such as time and physical space. Warehouse inventory technologies let business owners understand how best to manage the storage costs of holding a product. With proper technology in place, executives can save time and money by holding meetings over the Internet instead of at corporate headquarters.

3. Security

With the rise in cyber-crime and data breaches, tight security is imperative for all businesses. Today, all business assets are mostly stored in the cloud or on endpoints. This has made it necessary for companies to adopt strict measures to keep their data as well as that of their customers secure.

4. Employee assistance

Most employees feel the need to use the latest technologies in performing their tasks with the belief that it will help them deliver the best results. Companies need to consider the cost-output relationship and provide suitable technology to enhance results.

5. Time and money

There’s no doubt that technology helps businesses achieve more in less time, with no detriment to the quality of product or service. In fact, technology is now performing repetitive tasks that were earlier performed by people. This helps by saving on employee costs or having them work in areas where they are really needed.

WhatsApp says it serves more than 2 billion people in over 180 countries, with over a billion daily active users. WhatsApp Messenger is now the leading mobile messaging app in 169 countries. 

Launched in 2009, WhatsApp is a free, multi-platform messaging app that lets users make video and voice calls, send text messages, share their status, and more with just a Wi-Fi connection. Part of what makes this app appealing is that it works on various phone and computer operating systems, so you can continue your conversation anytime, anywhere. It can also take advantage of Wi-Fi and cellular data to make one-on-one or group calls, reducing the need for expensive calling charges. If this sounds exciting so far, keep reading to find out everything you need to know about WhatsApp.

What of WhatsApp?

Automatically clear out your messages after a week: When it’s enabled, all your messages will disappear from a chat after seven days.

Format the text you send in a message: WhatsApp lets you bold, italicise or add strikethrough to text on the fly. To do so, you’ll need to add a couple of special characters before and after the text you want to format. To bold text in WhatsApp, use an asterisk (*bold*); italicise text with an underscore (_italics_); create strikethrough text with tildes (~strikethrough~).

Star a message: Starring a message creates a convenient way to go back to a meaningful message, phone number, address or article link a friend sent you. Long-press on the message, then tap on the Star icon.

Mute a conversation: When heading into a movie or meeting, use WhatsApp’s mute feature to silence a chatty group conversation or a friend who doesn’t get the hint that you’re busy.

Hide your last seen status: Don’t want friends or random contacts to know your “Last Seen” time? Open Settings > Account > Privacy > Last Seen. Then pick from Everyone, My Contacts or Nobody.

Disable read receipts: Going one step further, you can disable read receipts in WhatsApp. This will prevent fellow users from knowing you have read a message.  Open Settings > Account > Privacy and uncheck the box or slide the switch next to Read Receipts to the Off position.

Don’t save photos or videos by default: If you’d rather not have WhatsApp saving every photo and video you receive to your camera roll, taking up space and cluttering up your own photos, disable autosave. On an iPhone, open Settings > Chats and turn off Save to Camera Roll. On Android, go to open Settings> Chats and turn off Media Visibility.

Receive custom notifications: Instead of having the same alert sound for every incoming message, you can set custom alerts for individual contacts. Doing so will make it easier to know who messaged you without looking at your phone. Android users should tap on the Menu icon when viewing a chat thread, followed by View Contact > Custom Notifications, check the box and then finish setting it up.

For your website to have a unique identity, a domain name is essential. The domain name must be unique to ensure that no two parties hold the same domain name as this can create a problem and will defeat the purpose of building your brand identity.

Your domain name is not only your identity but your online business card as well. Unfortunately, there are people who do not give importance to their domain name without realising that doing so will also result in losing their online identity.

The benefits of a domain name?

Creates mobility for your internet presence.
If you decide to change web hosting services, relocate to a different country, or shift to using your own in-house server, your domain name stays with you, allowing you to continue to build your brand without having to start all over.

Increases your search engine ranking.
As you build your business and develop your website with quality content, your domain name will become more and more recognisable in search engines like Google, which draws more customers in your direction.

A domain name builds your brand.

Much like a storefront window, a good domain will create awareness and attract customers. More than anything else, a domain name can increase awareness of your brand. If your domain name matches your company name, it reinforces your brand, making it easier for customers to remember and return.

A domain name adds credibility to your business.

Having your own domain name makes your company look professional. If you publish your site through an ISP or a free web-hosting site, you’ll end up with a URL such as www.yourisp.com/-yourbusiness. This generic address does not inspire confidence in a customer like a www.yourcompany.com domain name does.